Signal postal supply



May 26, 1925. 1,538,999

.J. A. MITCHELL ET AL MAIL MARKING MACHINE d May 13 r Hllllllllllli lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 'Illllllllllll: IIIIIIIIII/IIII M A E Y HZ \E c N m R N fif E N n v E%\A NN HW 0A 0 L a Y L B Patented May 26, 1925.

UNITED STATES lasts PATENT oer! some A. livirronnn z, or NEWARK, new aria-s ur, man nawnnnon a. zA-HN, or. LONG rsLAivn errr; NEW roan, ,aserenoas TOKTHEINTERNATIONAL roster .s'or-rnY ooMrnnY, er ienoontyn, new YORK.

MAIL-MARKING MACHINE.

Application filed ma 13, 1924. ser al No. 713,094.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be. it known that we, JOHN A. Mirorlnnn, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, and L WRENCE J.

ZAHN, residing ,at LongfgIsland City, in the county of .Queens and Stat of New York, have invented certainnew and useful improvements in lilail Marking Machines, otwhich the following is a specitication.

This invention relates to improvements in parts of a mail marking machine, such as used in post offices for marking mail matter or cancelling the stamps thereon, and

" refers particularly "to that part of such a machine known as the stacker.

For many years, the stacker which has been ingeneral use, has been constructed along the line ,"of that disclosed in Patent 8563M) issued June 11, 190? to F. G. J ahn from which, particular reference bein made to Fig. 2 thereof, it is seen that a slidablemember is heldin positionby a clamping wing nut, so that when different lGIIgbl-iS of mail matter is sent through the marking machine, the stop on the stackermust be moved oradjusted to accommodate these diiierent lengths of mailmatter. So far aswe are aware, all the devices of the prior art require the operator to use both hands in making the adjustment oi the stacker stop, one hand being used to loosen the holding device and the other to draw out the slidable member carrying the stop. This operatioirmeans a loss of time in feeding the mail matter to the machine. On account of the tremendous increase in recent years or mail matter passing through the variouspost olii'ces, the saving of time or the speeding up or such an operation as the cancelling of the stamps has become extremely important.

It is, therefore, theprincipal object of our invention to provide means for adjusting the stop on the stacker, such that it may be very easily and rapidly operated by one hand, while the other hand of the operator is used to continue the feeding of the mail matter through the machine, there by speeding up the handling of mail.

Another object of our invention is to pro vide an improved mechanism for operating the stacker stop, such that it may be readily applied to existing machines.

These andotherohjects will be apparent in vone skilled in this art after, a study he specification and annexed drawing,

since our improvement is directedinerely to the stacker portion of mail marking machine, all or the other parts or the ma chinehave. been omitted from the drawing and description, only such parts being shown and described as are necessary to make ,our invention clearly understood.

in the drawings:

Figure lis a plan view otthe stacker portion or a mail marking machine.

-Figure,2 is a side view of Fig. 1, with a part of the front plate broken away to show the mechanism behind it.

Figure 3 is a sectional view onthe line 3/301? Fig. 4," but withcertain or the. parts in position.

.Figurel is apart sectional view through our improved stacker stop operating mechanism. I

Figure 5 is aview on the line 5/5 of a, with some or the parts omitted.

Figure .6, is a fragmentary viewer the longitudinally movable member carrying the stacker stop and: the supporting means for this member. I

Referring now to the details wherein like numbers refer to corresponding parts in the various views, 1 illustrates the. table top 0:1 the mail markingmachine. on the table. 1 is mounted a stacker plate 2, which is preferably nickel-plated and polished to provide a very smooth sliding surface for the mail matter onto the bars 4. A housing 3 is mounted on the plate 2 in any suitable manner, as by two screws 31. VVithing a stem. 23, on the upper end of which is carried an operating ,kno'b or handle 12,

the same being fastened to the stem 23 in anvsatistactory manner as by a set screw 32. The housing 3 has a slot milled across its bottom face and positioned in this slot is a. longitudinally movable member inthe form of a rack 11, having gear teeth thereon permanently meshed with the teeth of the gear 20. The gear has a counterbore within which is carried a spring 22 and a plunger21, which rests on the plate 2, acting to hold the gear in theposition shown in Fig; 3. The housing 3 directlyover the gear has a series of holeszlo and the in the housingis carried a gear '20 havgear 20 has a pin 21 fastened thereto so that it may enter any one of the holes 25, and the plunger 21 acts to normally look the gear 20 in any one of the holes with which the pin 24L chances to engage, on any setting of the gear 20.

The rack 11 has attached thereto, preferably at one end, a mail stop member 19, generally referred to as the stacker stop. The stop member 19 has a plate or blade 18 fastened thereto, which acts as a rest plate for long mail matter when the rack 11 is moved outwardly as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. On the side of the housing 3 is fastened as by screws, a stacker back plate 5, against which mail matter engages, after leaving the star wheel 7 which is timed in proper synchronism with the usual gears carried within the gear case or trough 29. 6 illustrates a guide plate for the mail matter, which is shown in dotted lines as just leaving the stacker feed rollers 8 and 9. The feed roller 8 has a guard 10 which supports one end of the guard rail 16, the other end of which is fastened to the front plate 26. 13 illustrates the stacker sliding plate which is fastened to the slide bracket 14, which in turn slides down the stacker bars a under pressure of the mail matter coming through the stacker. To keep this slide plate 13 from promiscuously sliding down the stacker bar 4, a flat spring 15 is provided, which keeps the bracket 141 at the proper tension. 17 illustrates an arm attached to the top plate 1 for supporting the table carrying the mail matter to be fed through the machine.

To eliminate any play or lost motion in the rack 11, a plate 27 is provided which eX- tends substantially the full width of the housing 3 and is resiliently mounted by the spring 28, which rests on the plate 2. The support plate 27 is prevented from moving out of the slot in the housing by the screw 30, which has one end engaging a groove in the side of the plate 27.

In the operation of our device, it is to be understood that the table which is supported by the arm 17 carries mail matter of diiferent lengths, it being customary to make some rough assortment of this as it is placed on the table. Assuming that as the end of the short mail matter is reached, it is desired to set the stacker stop to accommo date the longer mail matter, the operator takes hold of the handle or knob 12 and pushes down thereon, which slidably moves the stem 23 and the gear 20 to break the lock caused by the pins 2 1 engaging the holes 25 in the housing, and then by turning the knob the rack is carried outwardly to the desired position, as may be indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, and on releasing the knob 12, the plunger 21 carries the gear and stem upward, causing the gear to be automatically locked in its set position. As another batch of different length mail comes along or is delivered to the table for feeding through the marking machine, the stacker stop may be easily and quickly set to the desired position by manipulatingthe gear 20 as just described. It will be observed that the member 18 acts as an extension of the plate 5, when the rack 11 is moved outwardly, since the member 18 passes between the U-shaped cut-out portion in the plate 5 as shown in Fig. 2.

While we have shown and described a very practical form of our improvement to a mail marking machine, it will be appreciated that our improvement is susceptible to various alterations with respect to the cletails, without departing'from the spirit of our invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is: I

1. In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a mail stop member, a longitudinally slidable member carrying said stop member, and another member having first a sliding motion and then a rotary motion for moving said longitudinally slidable member and said stop member.

2. In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a mail stop member, a longitudinally slidable member carrying said stop member, a rotatable member in engagement with said slidable member but normally locked against movement, means for releasing said rotatable member from its locked position and for applying a rotary movement thereto for the purpose described.

3, In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a mail stop member, a longitudinally slidable member carrying said stop member, a rotatable member in operative engagement with said slidable member with means to rotate said rotatable member to move the slidable member, and means associated with the rotatable member for looking it in any one of a number of positions as described.

1. In a stacker mechanism fora mail marking machine, a mail stop member, a longitudinally slidable member carrying said stop member, a rotatable member in engagement with said slidable member but normally locked against movement, means for giving said rotatable member first a sliding movement to unlock it and then a rotary motion to move said slidable member.

' 5. In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a mail stop member, a longitudinally slidable member carrying said stop member, a rotatable member in engagement with said slidable member but normally locked against movement, means for releasing said rotatable member from its locked position'and for applying a rotary movement thereto, and automatic means for restoring said rotatable member to locked position after the operating means has been released.

6. In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a mail stop member, a longitudinally slidable member carrying said stop member and having gear teeth on one side thereof, a gear Wheel in mesh With the teeth on said slidable member, said gear Wheel having a stem With an operating handle thereon, a support for the stem, locking means common to the gear Wheel and support for locking the gear Wheel in any one of a number of positions, said handle on the stem serving to actuate the stem to break the lock and to rotate the gear, and means for a-uomatically restoring the gear to locked position after the handle is released.

7. In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a stacker plate, a housing attached to said plate, a longitudinally movable member passing through said housing and carrying a mail stop member, a resiliently supported member held Within the housing on said plate and supporting said longitudinally movable member, a rotatable member in engagement with and capable of moving said longitudinally movable member, said rotatable member having a stem supported by a part ort said housing, locking means cooperating between the housing and said rotatable member for locking the rotatable member in any one of a number of p0sitions, operating means carried by the stem serving to actuate the stem to break the lock and to move the rotatable member, and resilient means asso'ciated with a plunger for restoring said rotatable member to locked position on release of said operating means.

8. In a stacker mechanism for a mail marking machine, a rack member having gear teeth in one side and carrying a mail stop and a rest plate, a gear Wheel in mesh with the teeth on said rack, a stem for the gear Wheel, a housing for the gear Wheel acting also as a bearing for said stem, looking means cooperating between the housing and the gear Wheel for locking said Wheel in any one of a number of positions, a handle on the stem serving to slide the stem and gear in the housing to break the look and also to apply rotary motion to the gear to move the rack, and automatic means for restoring the gear to locked position When said handle is released.

In Witness whereof We have hereunto afiixed our signatures.

JOHN A. MITCHELL. LAWRENCE J. ZAHN. 

